Leaving
by Liz Sherman
Summary: Addison was going to leave Seattle, but then Alex visited. And she's changing her mind. Chapter 6 the final chapter is up. Thanks for reading.
1. Leaving

Addison looked around her hotel room. She had stayed here for quite some time, but a hotel room never really feels like home. Sure, she had hung up her clothes, but that was because there was no way she was going to wear wrinkly clothes to work. And there was definitely no way she was ironing anything. But that wasn't the point. The point was that she was supposed to be packing her clothes. The point was that she was leaving Seattle.

She was glad she had decided not to sell the brownstone in Manhattan. There was only so much she could take from Seattle Grace, and she had reached her limit. Manhattan seemed like another world now. It had been such a large part of her life, but she had left it all behind for Derek. And he had left her behind for Meredith. So it was back to Manhattan, back to the place where she most likely belonged.

In Manhattan, Addison had felt desired. Two men loved her, or at least made love to her. She had friends. She had a life.

In Seattle, Addison felt shunned. No one loved her, and rarely made love _to_ her.

She had _a_ friend, and no life. She worked more at Seattle Grace than in New York because there was nothing to do when she wasn't at the hospital.

There was a knock at her door, and Addison felt foolishly hopeful. She always got excited when there was a knock on the door, just as she got excited when mail came. But it wouldn't be anyone she knew.

Secretly, she hoped that one of her failed romances would visit her in her room, perhaps to try and persuade her to stay. She knew Derek wouldn't come. She secretly hoped Alex would come. Even Mark would have been all right. Sometimes she just wanted sex. Mark was good for that.

She looked through the peephole. Ah, room service. She knew all the waiters by name, and it was Jerry tonight. She opened the door, and Jerry held out a decadent tray with a smile.  
"Good evening, Ms. Montgomery," he said, giving a little bow as she took the tray.  
"So formal tonight, Jerry," she responded, her mouth quirking slightly.  
"We were given a lecture about flirting with the guests, ma'am," he answered, his eyes smiling.  
"You mean _you_ got a lecture about flirting with the guests." Addison grinned at the cocky waiter. He was known for his gregarious behavior, especially with the females staying alone.  
"Enjoy your meal, Ms. Montgomery," was all Jerry said, but it was accompanied with a wink.

Addison closed the door and brought the tray to her bed. Crossing her legs, she set the tray on her lap, and looked at the food that had sounded so appetizing a few minutes ago.

She set it on the floor and lay back in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

There were reasons why she was leaving Seattle Grace. Three reasons, specifically.

There was Derek. She was over him. Really, she was. But aren't ex-wives allowed to feel some kind of reservations when they see their ex-husbands dating new women? It pained her to see him give Meredith the care he never gave her, not even when they were first starting out. Maybe it wasn't just Derek. It was Meredith and Derek. She liked both of them separately. Separately, they were fine. Together, Addison wanted to vomit a little bit. Together, they reminded Addison of what she never had, and of what she wanted, and of what she would probably never get.

There was Mark. Cocky, slutty, man-whore Mark. He hadn't even lasted to the halfway point of their deal. Addison had known he wouldn't. She had set him a Sisyphean task, but he had risen to the challenge. Mark never was one to resist a good offer. Addison knew that she was considered a prize. She was excellent in bed, and an excellent girlfriend, and would have thought that knowing what he would get if he waited 60 days would be enough to keep him off other women. It wasn't. Addison wasn't sure if Mark knew how horrible it had made her feel to have him throw off their deal as casually as most of his sexual encounters. She had tried. She had put herself out there, and she had been denied. Mark made Addison think she wasn't good enough.

There was Alex. Karev, evil-spawn, whatever his name, there he was. Addison lusted after him. She couldn't believe that she was so obvious with her attraction, but if Callie was to be believed, most people must have noticed that she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He had rejected her, though. But that didn't stop them from working together, or from him saying some of the sweetest things she could imagine. There was something about him that made her heart ache and her pulse race. She had always noticed him. From the moment she had told him that his ass was hers to the moment where he told her that he would notice if she went missing, she had noticed him. Addison wished she had handled the whole Alex situation better. But she hadn't, and so Alex reminded her of her failure.

She hated being shallow. She hated that she was leaving because of three men. But in reality, she was leaving because of what those three men represented. Back in New York, she'd at least have something else besides the hospital, and maybe, maybe she could rebuild herself.

Another knock came at Addison's door. She sat upright, trying to quash that hopeful feeling. There was no chance that it was anybody she wanted to see. Well, almost no chance.

Walking back to her door, she again looked through the peephole. She sucked in her breath when she saw Alex standing outside.

Slowly, she opened the door.

"So, I'm a stalker," was the first thing out of his mouth.

"I don't care," was Addison's immediate response. She blushed suddenly, and cursed inwardly. She blushed so rarely that she hated when it happened.

"I know you're leaving tomorrow and I didn't get a chance to say good-bye." Alex watched Addison's face, noting the slight wrinkle in her brow as she tried to decide how to respond.

So he hadn't come to convince her to stay, but saying good-bye was better than nothing, right? She opened the door a little more, inviting Alex in.

"I'm not staying, Dr. Montgomery. I just came to say good-bye," he said, and Addison's heart broke slightly. Every time Alex talked to her, her hopes rose, but every time, he managed to crush them.

He leaned in and kissed her once, softly, and warmly. "Good-bye, Addison," he said quietly, and pulled away.

And he was gone. Addison closed her door and sank down, leaning against the door, her knees pulled to her chest.

She sat that way for a long time, trying to figure out exactly how she felt and if she even felt anything at all. Well, it was obvious she did. Maybe there was more than lust to how she felt about Alex. She shook her head. That wasn't a 'maybe'. There _was_ more to how she felt about Alex.

"So do something, Addison. Don't just let things happen to you," she told herself sternly. She pulled herself up, and picked her cell phone up off the table and dialed a number quickly.

"_Hello?_"  
"Ask me to stay."  
"_What?_"  
"Ask me to stay. If you ask me, I will. If you want me here, I will stay."  
"_Open your door_."  
"What?"  
"_Open your door. If you open your door, I'll ask._"

Addison dropped her phone and opened her door.

"Did you really think I was going to let you leave?"


	2. Breakfast

**Obligatory "I don't own anything" message  
_Leaving_ was suppose to be a one-shot, but people seemed to want more, so I thought I'd give it a shot, and I wrote this. My last experience with a story with chapters was slightly on the horrible side, so I hope this goes better. Enjoy**

-

Addison lay in her bed, contemplating the situation. She knew it was shallow to make changes in your life because of the men that were in it.

In reality though, either decision she made would be because of a guy. If she left, she was leaving because of three men. If she stayed, she was staying because of one man. She was more comfortable with being shallow for one man. Especially as that man's limbs were entangled in her own.

Sometimes Addison hated that she woke up early. She was always the first one up in any of her relationships, and she hated waking other people up. She preferred to have them wake themselves up. Sitting in bed gave her time to think about things. Sometimes she didn't want to think about things. Sometimes she wanted to take things at face value.

She wanted to be happy that Alex apparently had feelings for her. She didn't want to think that maybe he was just itching to have sex. She also wanted to have feeling in her left arm again. She moved it slightly, and Alex rolled over, releasing her arm without waking.

The real thing she didn't want to think about was how to tell the Chief that she had changed her mind. He had been angry at her for leaving. He had lectured her for leaving because of Derek and Mark. Addison had been grateful that he didn't know anything about Alex. He had told she had a good chance of being named Chief if she wasn't leaving. Then he made her feel guilty for leaving.

Guilt was Addison's least favorite thing. She didn't deal with it well, and sat around stewing about whatever was causing her guilt. In her mind, she replayed all the possible scenarios. Richard could welcome her back with open arms. Richard could deny her return to Seattle Grace. Alex would move to New York with Addison. Addison would open her own practice in Seattle. Most of the scenarios operated under the assumption that Addison would not be allowed back. Addison assumed the worst in situations that involved guilt.

Alex let out a little grunt. Addison jumped slightly. It had been a while since she'd woken up with a new man in bed. She didn't know any of his mannerisms. Would he think it was rude that she hadn't woken him up? Would he be a little weirded out that she was watching him sleep? How did you talk about these things?

She tried to remember how it had been with Derek after their first time, and she found it difficult to remember. She might have been awkward enough still that she had tried to leave the bed and woken him up with her clumsiness.

After her first time with Mark, there had been no waking up. They had been interrupted. When she did finally get a chance to wake up next to him, he had pulled a pillow over his head and slapped away her attempts to wake him up, suppressing laughter at her yelps. Mark was fun, and there was no denying that.

Alex's eyes opened slightly, and Addison's first reflex was to pretend she had been sleeping too, and that they were waking up simultaneously. Her second one was to smile. He smiled lazily back and rolled closer to place a kiss on her shoulder.

"When do you normally wake up?" she asked, well aware that this wasn't really the best time to ask these sorts of questions.

"Mmmf?" was his response, his mouth engaged elsewhere.

"I wake up early. Do you wake up early? Do we set an alarm? Should I wake you up if I wake up? Do you like breakfast? Do-"

" Addison," Alex said gently. Addison looked at him and he smiled again. "I wake up early. If it helps you to set an alarm, we can. It depends on what time you wake up. Breakfast is always welcome."

Addison blushed at his gentle mocking, and at the realization that she was already treating this as a real relationship. She was acting as though this was a long-term thing. She noted with some happiness that Alex didn't seem to be freaked out about it at all.

"Was your question about breakfast just a question, or was it a suggestion?"

She decided maybe she wasn't so shallow after all.

-

**Thanks for reading. There might be an update soon, depending on if the muse strikes. I'm warning you now, it'll be updated sporadically. **


	3. Walk of Shame

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything **

**Addison is on her way to talk to the Chief about getting her job back. **

* * *

Walking through the doors of Seattle Grace was slightly intimidating this morning. Yesterday, she thought she had walked through them for the last time. Today, she was going to try her hardest to make sure that today wasn't it.

Addison thought that if she hadn't scared Alex enough away with her awkward in-bed questioning, he had certainly been deterred by her non-stop obsession with what she was going to say to the Chief. Alex had laughed at her over breakfast, but had said the obligatory, "Of course he'll let you come back", which was really all she was looking for from him.

She felt like a schoolchild being sent to the principal's office. All the guilt and remorse that she felt was amplified in this walk of shame. Walking across the open bridge seemed to take much longer than it normally did. She could see the top of the Chief's head in his chair and hoped against hope he wouldn't turn around and see her. She wanted to prolong the face-to-face confrontation for as long as possible. Doing her best to appear smaller and blend in with the other doctors walking back and forth, she bent her knees slightly and bowed her head, cursing her natural height as well as her heels.

Addison felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned to see Alex with a look on his face that made is clear that mocking was about to start. She had seen that look quite a lot since yesterday.

"Do you know how ridiculous you look?" he asked with a smirk gracing his face.  
"Do you know how ridiculous _you_ look?" She knew it wasn't anything close to a good come back, but she was under a lot of stress and couldn't be expected to be witty all of the time.  
"Oh, right. I never look ridiculous. That's what made you fall for me." There was no real response that could be made to that. He was right.  
"Who says I fell for you? Maybe I just wanted some sex."  
"Right. Which is why you were so worried about whether or not we should buy an alarm clock together." Damn it, he was right again. She had to remember to avoid Alex when she was feeling guilty and stressed. "And I do think we should get an alarm clock together. It can spend half the time at my apartment and half the time in your hotel room. We can name it Spot."  
"Spot?" Addison wrinkled her nose. "I was thinking more along the lines of Rover. But, alarm clock or no, I do have my meeting to get to," she said, gesturing towards the Chief's office. She was sorry to end their conversation, but one of the first steps towards getting your job back is being punctual and not letting your boyfriend distract you from what you had to do.  
"You'll be fine. He'd be crazy to not let you come back. Who else will keep me in line?"

Addison opened her mouth to respond, but Alex just squeezed her hand gently and walked away before she could respond.

Addison was always mystified by Alex's sweetness. It came out of nowhere. Just when you thought he was being an ass or that he was acting immature, he would pull this surprising kindness out of nowhere. It wasn't that he was a jerk all of the time, it's just that he didn't often show his vulnerability. He acted as though he didn't care, as though he was too important or busy for the kind of attention and sensitivity that the situation required. There was something about babies, though. It was like Alex had said. Babies didn't deserve the bad stuff that happened to them. Babies brought out the best in people, and they had brought out the best in Alex. He cared about them. He had developed a bedside manner. He was even described as, "cuddly" by a nurse when he had been holding a baby one evening, although in the next moment, she was barked at to never use that adjective to describe him again. But he had smiled after the nurse had fled and gently adjusted his arms around the baby. It was the babies that she should stay for.

With that thought in mind, she turned back towards the Chief's office and took a deep breath. She was Addison Montgomery. She did not back down, she didn't hide. She was one of the foremost neonatal specialists in the country. She was Satan. She just needed to be reminded of those facts every now and again.

Then she started walking, and every ounce of confidence she had built up drained slightly with every step. She was still going to have to beg for her job back. She was still going to have to apologize, and she was still going to have to deal with that look of disappointment on the Chief's face.

She tried to imagine how the Chief must feel. First he had thought he had found his successor in Preston Burke. Then Burke had a tremor and the Chief had felt betrayed. The Chief had told Addison that she had a good chance of being named Chief of Surgery, but she told him she was moving away and the Chief had felt disappointment. Every time he thought he had found a replacement, they let him down. That was part of the reason that he was so hard to face. The one downside of being allowed back into Seattle Grace was that she was even less likely to be named Chief now.

Addison had reached the door to his office. She reached her hand out to knock and paused for one brief moment. Was she absolutely sure that Seattle Grace was the place for her? Was Alex enough to make her stay? Once she was in there, could she reassure the Chief that she was not a flight risk; that she would stay for a good long while? If the Richard asked why she was staying, what would she tell him?

Addison did like Seattle, now that she was used to it. She enjoyed rain. It gave her a cozy feeling. She was willing to take a chance on Alex, to stay partly for him. What would she tell Richard? She wasn't sure she could handle the disapproving glare when she told him that she and Alex had slept together the night before and that she was staying so that they could date. Well, she would phrase it better than that, were she to use it as a reason, but that was basically it, wasn't it?

There had to be something more to stay for. There were the babies, for sure. But babies are everywhere. She couldn't very well tell the Chief that Seattle babies were better than babies elsewhere. She could try to sell him on the idea that she had made a life here, but it meant that she would have to backtrack from what she had told him when she wanted to leave.

"_Tell me why you are leaving, Addison," the Chief had said, with concern evident on his face.  
_"_I don't have anything here. I live in a hotel. Every day I have to see my ex-husband making eyes at Meredith Grey. Every time I pass Mark in the hallways, he's flirting with some new nurse. Every-"  
__The Chief cut her off, and she was thankful, because he didn't give her a chance to admit that she was lusting after an intern. "Addison Shepherd, if you are leaving because of a pair of jackasses, then you are not the person I thought you were."  
_"_I don't have anything here, Richard," she said again. "I don't have a home, I don't have a life. I simply go to and from the hospital. I want to have more than that, and I don't think I can have that here."  
__Richard had sighed and leaned back in his chair. Addison couldn't look him in the eyes. He began lecturing her, fulfilling the fatherly role that she always had placed him in. _

It turns out that just one person can make you feel as though you are where you belong. One person can make you feel as though you have a home and a life. Addison looked back to where Alex had disappeared, even though he was long gone. It was sappy, and it was cliché, but he was the difference. Alex was why she was staying. Well, Alex and the babies. Seattle babies were probably better than babies other places anyway.

She raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

* * *

**A/N: Really not trying to do a cliffhanger here. I'm tapped out right now, but I wanted to put something up. And I'm prolonging the moment when I will actually have to plan out how the conversation between Addison and the Chief might go. Because I have no idea. **

**And in most of my fics, I try to avoid conversations because, well, I'm not the best at writing them, so any constructive criticism on that front is more than welcome.**


	4. Convincing

**A/N: So I am in denial. And sad. And I wrote this, and I don't know what I think about it. But here it is. I feel like I might rewrite it later, but who knows. Anyway, this is Addison's meeting with the Chief.**

* * *

Addison tried to remember all the times she had been in this office. Signing her official contract to come here. Asking for a day off to do some drinking. Trying to help Richard with his marriage. Practically begging to be Chief. Those were the big ones. She had been in here many times, always to visit Richard, the way friends sometimes do. This visit, however, felt quite different. She felt very small, sitting in a chair facing Richard's desk. Richard was looking at her, his hands folded on his desk in a very authoritative way. Yes, she felt like a child in a principal's office trying her best to convince him that she didn't start the food fight.

She cleared her throat. "I feel like it's been a while since I've been here. Have you changed something? New curtains? New plants? No?"

"Addison."

"It's got to be something. Something is different."

"The only thing that's different is that yesterday, this was the office of a Chief who had a neonatal specialist on his staff. Now it's the office of a Chief who has an unemployed neonatal specialist as a friend."

Ouch. Addison visibly cringed at that. But it was kind of true. All right, it was completely true. She kneaded her hands a little, needing something to push her to actually ask Richard for her job.

"What…what if…you had a neonatal specialist on the staff again?"

"Do you know somebody?" Richard looked at her directly, and Addison knew that he was going to make her ask outright for her job back.

"Well…me?"

"Tell me why you're coming back, Addison."

This was completely reminiscent of her conversation when she had asked him to leave. She took a breath. She had to just dive in. There was no easy way to get used to the cold water except to completely immerse yourself in it. Rip off the band-aid. Stop thinking about metaphors for the situation.

"I think…well, I think I found a reason to stay."

"And what is that reason?"

"Well…it's…well, it's the babies. The babies are better in Seattle." Did she actually say that? Please, if there was a God, make it so that she did not just say that to the Chief.

"Did you just say that Seattle babies are better than other babies?"

"No…No. Well, all right, I did. But that's really, really not what I wanted to say. I mean, I do love the babies here. The babies here are amazing. And wonderful. And you start to feel a connection to them after a while. And they act as though you are wonderful and deserve to have a job and a life here." She had begun rhapsodizing, and stopped, a little self-consciously.

"I feel like you are speaking in code and that I should replace the word 'babies' with some other word. Perhaps 'interns'. And perhaps one intern in particular. Addison, tell me you are not making a life changing decision based on a man. Again."

"I'm not. Okay, well, I am. But really, it's only partly because of the man. He _is_ amazing and wonderful. But that's not the point. The point is that I've made a name for myself here. People do travel here to get my help on their cases. I do surgeries here that I never thought I'd have the chance to do. I also do mundane surgeries that I could do anywhere, but, somewhere along the line, I realized that I want to do them here. Some things happened last night that changed my view of Seattle. But even after they happened, I still thought about whether or not I should come back. I'm still thinking about it right now, to tell you the absolute truth."

Addison paused at this moment because the Chief tensed slightly. She wished that she was doing a better job of this. Instead, she was mostly babbling. But if that's what it took get her job back, then babble she must. "As it turns out, I do have things here. As shallow as I feel telling you that one of those things is a man, it's true. But he's not the only thing. There are the babies. The babies are worth staying for. The fact that I have some sort of facsimile of a life here is worth staying for. I think that it might be harder to start over somewhere completely new. And all these things that are worth staying for outweigh those sad excuses for leaving that I gave you before."

She looked at the Chief, meeting his eyes.

"What if you broke up with this man that I'm going to pretend I do not know the identity of?"

"I would stay here anyway." Addison wanted some way to make the Chief know that she was serious about staying in Seattle.

"How can I be sure?"

Addison didn't know what to tell him. She was so caught up in the idea that she and Alex would never break up that she didn't think about a what a post-break up world could be like. Which was foolish. She'd slept with him once, and they'd shared one meal together. It's true that they worked well together professionally, but she really had no idea what things would be like in an actual relationship. But she was willing to take that risk.

And it wasn't like she hadn't dealt with break-ups before. Sure, it involved her crying in supply closets, but she got over it. She moved on. Wasn't she friends with Derek? That had to count for something. She could be mature. She wasn't exactly exhibiting that characteristic at this moment in time, but maturity was something she possessed.

She wasn't a flight risk. It's something that she felt instinctively. She would weather any storm that Seattle threw at her. She was going to stay. This was it.

"You just have to be," Addison answered.

* * *

**I hope that was acceptable and everything you were hoping for in Addison's meeting with the Chief. If not, sorry. I don't know when the next update will come because I have midterms and papers and stress. We'll see. But it's not over yet.**


	5. Torture

**I don't own anything except the DVDs.**

**This chapter is Alex-centric, and something that ended up happening because I really wanted to avoid more Chief conversations. And it's what came out when I started writing. This is also my first time writing from his perspective, and I have a harder time thinking in my Alex voice (yes, I can think in an Addison voice), and it's been harder now that he's on my blacklist. But in this fic, he's a good guy and has nothing to do with the current Alex on the show. Anyway, enjoy**

* * *

Alex may have convinced Addison that he was sure about her return to Seattle Grace, but he was having a hard time convincing himself. He knew the Chief was a man who stuck to his principles.

He didn't know what he would do if Addison didn't stay in Seattle. She could probably find other employment in Seattle. It wasn't as if Seattle Grace was the only hospital in the city, but the blow of not being allowed to come back might be too much for her.

Alex paced back and forth in the abandoned hallway. His charts were on the abandoned gurney, his lab coat spread out over them. He swung his arms in circles, as though he were stretching before a fight. He had always able to think clearest right before his wrestling matches, before instincts took over. He tried to get into this mindset when things got to be a little too much. It helped him sort out whatever it was he was going through.

Like this thing with Addison. It was true that she was expecting a lot out of him. She was already acting as though this was a serious relationship, and to be honest, it scared him a little. The last time he had tried anything like a serious relationship, it had ended with him in an on call room with Olivia and Izzie not speaking to him. He knew it had been a conscious choice. It hadn't been to deliberately hurt Izzie, it had been to reaffirm his manliness.

He felt like this Addison thing was different. She was different. She was more mature than Izzie, she knew what she wanted, and she had chosen Alex. He couldn't help but feel a spurt of pride at that.

When he had chastely kissed Addison good-bye, he hadn't expected her to call him. He thought she was done, that the kiss had been enough for her. In his wildest dreams, he had imagined her grabbing him by his shirt, pulling him into her room, locking the door and having her way with him. He imagined Addison as a sex-crazed woman who just couldn't control herself.

And his imagination hadn't done her justice. It was true she couldn't control herself and that she had had her way with him, but Alex liked to think that was because of his personal charisma and manly physique, not because she was sex-crazed. He wanted to give himself a little credit. And she let him have his way with her, too. He liked her fairness in the sack.

But a night of really good sex did not necessarily mean that they could spend the rest of their lives together. He didn't even know what she was like outside of the hospital. For all he knew, she could be a real bitch. They might not actually be compatible.

Alex had masked his worry while they were eating breakfast together and when he caught up to her before her meeting with the Chief, but now that he was alone and letting himself think about her, it was a consuming concern.

He was Alex Karev. He was good at one-night stands, at meeting girls in bars, getting them a little bit tipsy and bringing them back to his place. He was a flirt, the perfect bachelor. He did not have a good track record with relationships, and avoided getting personal with other people.

He avoided the personal topics not because he was scared to get that close to another person, but because he wasn't sure that everyone deserved to know everything about him. He took pride in the level of mystery that surrounded him. And his cloudy history allowed him to make surprisingly insightful comments to doctors that weren't expecting him to have anything helpful to say.

He always liked surprising Addison with a nice gesture. The look on her face always had a hint of suspicion that he found intriguing. What must her life have been like for her to not trust simple acts of kindness? Or was it that these acts of kindness were coming from him? Every time, though, he could tell that she was surprised by it a little less. He liked that he was able to change her mind.

In some ways, though, that power was a little frightening. It came back to her changing her life to be with him. He had asked her to stay, and she had agreed. Did that mean that he had to be with her forever? Was that how it worked? Her credibility as a loyal employee would be shot if she left almost as soon as she was rehired. That was a lot of pressure on him to make this relationship work. And he was quite certain that it would take some work.

It wasn't that he thought Addison was high maintenance or anything like that. It's just that he'd heard rumors that committed relationships took a lot of work. Although he did think Addison might be a little high maintenance. What woman dressed in Gucci wasn't? But he figured that the sex might make dealing with all that high maintenance worth it.

His thoughts paused as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching his secluded spot. And it sounded like high heels, a sure sign that it was Addison. What other doctor in the hospital wore such ridiculous footwear?

And sure enough, Addison careened into sight, looking for all the world like she could barely contain her happiness. Alex took that as a good sign, but wanted to check just to make sure.

"What happened?" he asked casually as Addison neared him. She reached out and hit him on the head.

"I'm smiling, what do you think? I thought I taught you to diagnose better than that. I hope you haven't been asking our patients ridiculous questions."

"_Our_ patients?"

"Yes, _our_ patients. Unless you've decided that you want to go back to Sloan and plastics."

"That's not what I meant. You aren't going to give me a straight answer, are you?"

"About what, Karev?"

"You know about what. I can't believe you still get a kick out of torturing me."

"I don't think I'll ever stop getting a kick out of torturing you." Addison let the words dangle a little tantalizingly, letting Alex figure out the double entendre for himself.

Alex might have his doubts, but there was something to be said for giving serious relationships a chance.

* * *

**Let me know what you thought. At the very least, I hope it offered some good distraction/procrastination time, because that's what it did for me.**


	6. All in All

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything**

**Here it is, the final chapter. While writing this entire thing, I have found that the only way I can write Grey's fics is to listen to music from Grey's while I write. So I have been listening to a good bit of the wonderful music featured on the show. **

**This chapter was kind of hard to write because there are so many wonderful Addison/Alex fics out there with so many wonderful endings, and I didn't want to step on the toes of any of those. So I did my best with this, and I hope you like it. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this.**

* * *

On their first date, Addison took it upon herself to make it clear to Alex that while she was momentarily staying for him, it didn't mean that he had to be committed to her forever. Alex took that as an insult, that she was already losing interest and was gruff with her for the rest of the meal. Addison was hurt by that, and didn't invite him up to her hotel room. Alex had been miffed by the lack of sex, and didn't give her a kiss good night. 

All in all, it was not the best beginning to a new relationship.

On their second date, Addison apologized, her voice overlapping Alex's when he also expressed his regrets for his behavior. He held her hand as they walked from the restaurant to the car. She rested her head on his shoulder. They shared a long kiss outside of the Grey residence before Addison tore herself away, saying that she didn't not want to have sex in Meredith's house. Alex had pulled her back to him, and kissed her once more, for good measure, then let her leave.

All in all, it was a much better night.

Their third date was spent on one of the few days they both had off, looking at houses for Addison. As much as Addison loved having someone else cleaning her room everyday, it was time to find a place of her own. Addison had no notion of what sort of residence she required, only that she didn't want it to be a hotel room or a trailer. Alex gamely rode in the car with Addison and her realtor, occasionally making mocking comments from the backseat, which were always responded to with a slap on the knee.

Their fourth date wasn't really a date. Alex was attending a house-warming party at Addison's new place. He stayed long after everyone had left, sitting on Addison's bare floor, looking at her bare walls, massaging her bare feet. She was drinking a glass of wine and was endearingly tipsy. He had allowed himself to be lead to her room; the only fully furnished room in the house, and was the first guest to spend the night.

All in all, the purchase of a house was a smart one.

The rest of their dates blurred together. Even after Alex moved in, they always made a point to go out as much as their schedules and Alex's limited budget allowed. There was something nice about hearing about someone's day over a candlelit dinner when you knew that you wouldn't have to do the dishes later.

They were by no means a happy couple. They argued frequently and loudly. They fought over things like laundry detergent and dish soap, but they also fought over things like Alex's bedside manner or Addison's friendship with Derek and Mark. Their anger usually fizzled out when they both realized that they were overreacting, but it's not to say that some fights didn't leave them disconcerted and questioning their relationship.

All in all, the fights were never something they enjoyed. But the make-up sex that almost always followed was something so excellent that they sometimes thought about fighting just to do it.

Addison enjoyed most aspects of her couplehood with Alex, but she especially enjoyed thinking about the beginning, when they were both unsure of each other. Their first date, especially. It was the first time they were spending any planned time together outside of the hospital. They had been awkward and bumbling. She had almost accidentally ended their relationship. It hadn't ended well, and she found herself wondering how badly she had screwed up her life this time.

But then he had asked her out again at the hospital the next day, a sullen, angry asking out, but an asking out nonetheless. It had taken quite a bit of self control not to kiss that hurt mouth right in front of the nurse's station, but Addison was pretty sure that she had given the nurses enough fodder for their gossip that she could put it off until their second date.

All in all, Addison was glad that Alex had been the bigger person.

She thought about the day she packed all of her things up. Alex had sat on her bed, offering criticisms of various articles of clothing. He had started mocking her shoes, but when he found himself face to face with the heel of a particularly spiky stiletto, he decided to leave that particular topic alone.

He had groaned in disgust when she started handing him cartons to carry down to the U-Haul, but had diligently ridden up and down the elevator with what seemed like an endless procession of boxes. And he had carried a good number of them into her new home without complaint as well. Addison had let him leave before the unpacking started. She could feel him itching to do something that didn't revolve around heavy lifting, although she hadn't minded watching him carry large boxes around in his arms. When saying good night, she had told him that she couldn't imagine a better way for him to prove his virility to her. And he had smiled sheepishly.

All in all, Addison appreciated Alex's physique.

Her last night at the Archfield had been exquisite. She spent it alone, taking up more of the room server's time than was probably acceptable and had ended up with a good number of half eaten dishes strewn around her floor. And she reveled in the fact that she was not going to be the one to clean these. For the last time, she was not responsible for cleaning up her own mess. She had chosen to spend this night alone so as not to scare Alex off with her gluttony and laziness. That could wait until later, when he was in too deep to get out.

And that morning, she had smilingly told the desk clerk that she was checking out. The desk clerk, whose name was Tiffani (Addison had gritted her teeth when reading the name tag), had looked startled, as though she had thought Addison would never actually leave. Addison had kept the smile plastered on her face as she handed Tiffani her credit card. And she had kept the smile on her face when Tiffani handed her the card back along with the receipt.

And Addison turned away from the desk for the last time, facing the doors to the Archfield. She picked up her purse and walked out of the hotel.

All in all, it felt good to be leaving.

* * *

**In reality, I had thost last three sentences planned out before I even started this chapter. And it was just sitting there in my mind, and I was all, "Now I have to figure out how to get to that point" and then it ended up being harder than I though because once I started writing, it went in a different direction.**

**So I hope you liked this. It might be my only chapter fic ever. I think I prefer one-shots. But anyway, thanks to all the readers and reviewers.**


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